Light-emitting device having a patterned substrate and the method thereof

ABSTRACT

This disclosure provides a light-emitting device including a patterned substrate and the manufacturing method thereof. The patterned substrate has a plurality of depressions and/or extrusions for scattering light emitted from a light-emitting layer. Each of the plurality of depressions and/or extrusions comprises a top portion, a bottom portion, and a sidewall portion enclosing the top portion and the bottom portion, and at least part of the sidewall portion comprises a curve. In a preferred embodiment, the light-emitting device further comprises a rough surface formed on at least one of the top portion, the bottom portion, and the sidewall portion.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/878,961, filed Jul. 30, 2007 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,825,577, which claims the right of priority based on Taiwan Application Serial Number 095127924, filed Jul. 28, 2006, the disclosure of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a light-emitting device, and more particularly to a light-emitting device having a patterned substrate and the method thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have become a symbol of energy-saving industry owing to their low power consumption and long operation life. Meanwhile, LEDs are generally expected to replace traditional fluorescent illumination devices. Whether the LEDs can be broadly implemented in a variety of lighting apparatus or not depends on their light-emitting efficiency and cost. Therefore, how to increase the light extraction efficiency becomes one of the decisive factors to improve the light-emitting efficiency.

Surface roughening has been an effective means to enhance the light-extraction efficiency, whether on a substrate or on a top semiconductor layer. In the U.S. Pat. No. 6,091,085, as shown in FIG. 1, Lester discloses a light-emitting device having a surface-roughened substrate. LED 10 comprises a sapphire substrate 11 and a plurality of protrusions 111 and depressions 112 formed therein for scattering light emitted from a light-emitting layer 14. Therefore the light extraction efficiency of the light-emitting device is enhanced. The plurality of protrusions 111 and depressions 112 are formed by randomly roughening the surface of the substrate 11 by mechanically polishing or reactive-ion-etching (RIE). Although the light extraction efficiency is enhanced because of the roughened surface of the substrate 11, the surface damages such as the alteration of the surface composition and the lattice distortion are resulted from the roughening process as well. Besides, part of the mask materials or the reactive ions are sputtered onto and even doped into a certain depth of the substrate, therefore the quality of the epitaxy layer deposited thereafter is downgraded. The mechanical polishing process also damages the lattice structure of the substrate surface, such that the quality of the successively grown semiconductor layer, such GaN, is worse, and the internal quantum efficiency is lowered.

Wang et al. published a paper in Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 153(3) C182-185 studying a maskless method for Epitaxial Lateral Overgrowth (ELOG) to grow GaN layer. The purpose of the paper is to simplify the complexity of the traditional ELOG process using SiO2 as a hard mark. The study focuses on growing a GaN film having a lattice structure with lower defect density on a sapphire substrate, especially with lower threading dislocation defects (TDDs) caused by the lattice mismatch between the sapphire substrate and the GaN film. Wet etching scheme is utilized to form plural trenches of V shape or U shape, and further correlate the influence of the exposed facets of the sapphire substrate formed under different etching conditions upon the TDD density of subsequently-formed ELOG GaN film.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

One aspect of the disclosure proposes a light-emitting device having a patterned substrate. The patterned substrate comprises an uneven surface for scattering light emitted from a light-emitting layer.

Another aspect of the disclosure proposes a light-emitting device having a patterned substrate comprising a plurality of protrusions and/or depressions. At least one of the depressions and/or extrusions comprises a top portion, a bottom portion, and a sidewall portion enclosing the top portion and the bottom portion, and at least part of the sidewall portion comprises a curve for facilitating the subsequent epitaxy deposition.

In a preferred embodiment, the surface of the depressions and/or protrusions has fewer lattice damages. The sidewall portion comprises a plurality of symmetric planes. At least one of the top portion and the bottom portion comprises a flat plane.

In another preferred embodiment, the uneven surface further comprises a rough surface formed on at least one of top portion, the bottom portion, and the sidewall portion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a light-emitting device in accordance with the prior art.

FIGS. 2A to 2E demonstrate the steps of an exemplary method for fabricating the light-emitting device in accordance with the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 shows the cross-sectional view and the corresponding top view of the patterned substrate in accordance with the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 4A to 4E demonstrate the steps of another exemplary method for fabricating the light-emitting device in accordance with the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 shows the correlation curve of the output power dependent upon the various etching time in accordance with the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 shows the improvement of the output power of the present disclosure versus the conventional device in accordance with the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 shows the improvement of the external quantum efficiency of the present disclosure versus the conventional device in accordance with the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 2A to 2E demonstrate an exemplary manufacturing method in accordance with the first embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2A, a substrate 21 is firstly provided wherein the substrate 21 comprises at least one material selected from the group consisting of sapphire, GaN, SiC, Si, GaAs, and other substrate material that can be used to grow III-V semiconductor on it. Subsequently, a patterned hard mask layer 22, such as silicon dioxide (SiO₂), is formed on the substrate 21. The patterned mask layer 22 can be achieved by forming a photoresist layer on a hard mask layer pre-deposited on the substrate 21, then performing lithography and etching process for defining and transferring the predetermined pattern to the hard mask layer. After removing the photoresist layer, the patterned hard mask layer 22 is formed as a protection film against the subsequent wet etching.

FIG. 2B shows the step for transferring the predetermined pattern from the patterned hard mask layer 22 to the substrate 21 to form a plurality of depressions on the surface of the patterned substrate 21 a by a wet etching process. The wet etching process comprises the step of dipping the substrate 21 having a patterned hard mask layer 22 thereon in a phosphoric acid (HNO₃) based solution. It is preferred to perform the wet etching process under high temperature condition such as 250 to 350° C. It is also preferred to mix a quantity of sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) into the HNO₃ based solution to increase the boiling point of the solution. It is also preferred that the proportion of HNO₃ in the solution should be greater than H₂SO₄ so the HNO₃ can stay as a base. A preferred ratio of HNO₃ to H₂SO₄ is around 2:1. The proper operating temperature is set to around 250 to 350° C. Operating in lower temperature will result in lower etching rate and prolong the etching time; whereas, operating in higher temperature will render the solution easily volatile, therefore alter the concentration of the etching solution, and affect the stability of the etching rate and product performance. Furthermore, the life-cycle of the etching solution is shortened, therefore the manufacturing cost is increased. Moreover, high-temperature process is a potential risk to the public safety. According to one embodiment of the disclosure, the etching rate is around 0.6 to 1 micron/min. under the condition of operating temperature of 320° C. and the composition ratio of HNO₃ to H₂SO₄ being 2:1. The etching time is controlled within a predetermined time range to produce the depressions having a flat bottom portion, as shown in FIG. 2B.

After wet etching, the hard mask layer 22 is removed as shown in FIG. 2C, and the plurality of depressions is formed on the patterned substrate 21 a. The top-view pattern of the depression comprises circle or ellipse.

Next, a semiconductor buffer layer 23 is epitaxially grown on the patterned substrate 21 a as shown in FIG. 2D. The semiconductor buffer layer 23 comprises at least one material selected from the group consisting of AlN, GaN, InGaN, AlGaN, and other III-nitride materials. The semiconductor buffer layer 23 is substantially filled the depressions without forming cavities or voids to prevent the total reflection at the interface between the semiconductor buffer layer 23 and the voids. Therefore, the light is scattered by the depressions of the patterned substrate 21 a.

After the formation of the semiconductor buffer layer 23, a light-emitting stack layer 24 and a transparent conductive layer 25 are sequentially formed thereon, as shown in FIG. 2D. In the preferred embodiment, the light-emitting stack layer 24 is made of GaN based materials and comprises a first semiconductor layer 241 of first conductivity-type, an active layer 242, and a second semiconductor layer 243 of second conductivity-type. The first conductivity-type is n-type or p-type, whereas the second conductivity-type is different from the first conductivity-type. The structure of the active layer 242 can be a double-heterojunction (DH) structure or a multi-quantum well (MQW) structure for achieving higher internal quantum efficiency. The transparent conductive layer 25 comprises metal or metallic oxide which is selected from the group consisting of nickel, gold, indium tin oxide, cadmium tin oxide, antimony tin oxide, indium zinc oxide, zinc aluminum oxide, and zinc tin oxide.

A portion of light-emitting stack layer 24 is removed by the conventional lithography-etching process so as to expose a portion of the first semiconductor layer 241. A first electrode 27 is formed on the exposed first semiconductor layer, and a second electrode 28 is formed on the transparent conductive layer 25. In a preferred embodiment, the method further comprises forming a reflecting layer 28 on the lower surface of the patterned substrate 21 a for enhancing the light extracted from the sidewall of the substrate. The reflecting layer 28 comprises at least one material selected from the group consisting of Sn, Al, Au, Pt, Ag, Ti, Cu, PbSn, AuZn, SiO2, Al2O3, SiNx, and TiO2.

FIG. 3 shows the cross-sectional views of the depression of the patterned substrate in different wet etching times. In one embodiment, the growth surface of the substrate comprises sapphire C plane. The shape of the top pattern of the depression is circle. The weight percentage of phosphoric acid to sulfuric acid is 2:1, and the operating temperature is about 320° C. The depressions 311, 312, and 313 are accordingly formed with the etching time of 60, 90, 120 seconds. The depression 311 is composed of an opening top portion 311 a, a flat bottom portion 311 b substantially shaped as a triangle, and a sidewall portion 311 c comprising at least three symmetric planes. The sidewall portion 311 c encloses the flat bottom portion 311 b. The ratio of the bottom area of the flat bottom portion 311 b to the top area enclosed by the opening top portion 311 a is about 0.35. The flat bottom portion 311 b comprises sapphire C plane, i.e. {0001} plane, and the sidewall portion 311 b comprises sapphire R plane, i.e. {1-102} plane. The cross-section of the sidewall portion 311 b near the top portion and the bottom portion is a curve for facilitating the subsequent epitaxy deposition, and the bottom corner of the depression is rounded. The depression 312 is similar to the depression 311 except for the ratio of the bottom area of the flat bottom portion 312 b to the top area enclosed by the opening 312 a being about 0.18. The depression 313, different from the depression 311 and depression 312, is only composed of an opening portion 313 a and a sidewall portion 313 b. The sidewall portion 313 b comprises at least three symmetric planes intersected at a bottom point O. The cross-section of the sidewall portion 311 b near the top portion is a curve for facilitating the subsequent epitaxy deposition.

It is clear from FIG. 3 that the flat bottom portion is gradually diminished and the sidewall portion is enlarged as the etching time increases. It is caused by the difference between the etching rate of sapphire C plane and that of sapphire R plane. More specifically, the etching rate of sapphire C plane is higher than that of sapphire R plane.

FIGS. 4A to 4E demonstrate another method for forming a patterned substrate in accordance with the second embodiment of the present disclosure. A substrate 41 is provided wherein the substrate 41 comprises at least one material selected from the group consisting of sapphire, GaN, SiC, Si, GaAs, and other substrate material that can be used to grown III-V semiconductor. Subsequently, a patterned photoresist layer 42 is formed on the substrate 41 as shown in FIG. 4A. The patterned photoresist layer 42 is prebaked on a hot plate with a temperature around 160 ° C. for reflowing and reshaping the patterned photoresist into a plurality of hemispheres, then performing etching process such as dry etching for defining and transferring the predetermined hemispherical pattern to the substrate as shown in FIG. 4B. After removing the remaining photoresist layer, a patterned substrate 41 a is formed as shown in FIG. 4C. It is clear from FIG. 4C that the patterned substrate 41 a comprises an uneven surface composed of a plurality of extrusions 411. The top-view pattern of the extrusion 411 comprises circle or ellipse. Each of the plurality of extrusions 411 comprises a top portion 411 a, a bottom portion 411 b, and a sidewall portion 411 c. The top portion 411 a and the bottom portion 411 b are both flat and substantially parallel. The sidewall portion 411 c is a curve for facilitating the subsequent epitaxy deposition. In a preferred embodiment, the top portion 411 a is further roughened by randomly etching the surface of the top portion 411 a to form an irregular pattern. The patterned substrate 41 a, as shown in FIG. 4D and FIG. 4E, includes additionally an irregular pattern on part of the uneven surface capable of further improving the light extraction efficiency. It is also preferred to form a regular pattern replacing the irregular pattern. Still, it is optional to form either the regular or irregular pattern on at least one of the bottom portion 411 b, the top portion 411 a, and the sidewall portion 411 c, as shown in FIG. 4D and 4E, or the entire uneven surface of the patterned substrate in both the first and second embodiments.

FIG. 5 shows how the output power of the light-emitting device been affected by the patterned sapphire substrate formed under various etching times in accordance with the first embodiment. It is clear from the figure that comparing with the flat substrate, the patterned substrates formed under the etching time of 30, 60, 90, 120 seconds respectively have about 24%, 16%, 15%, and 5% improvement in the output power of the light-emitting device accordingly. The depression formed under the etching time of 120 seconds has only 5% improvement due to the near V-shape profile of such depression that does not facilitate the subsequent deposition of the semiconductor buffer layer. Nevertheless, it is conquerable for one with ordinary skill in the art by tuning the related parameters that are critical to the issue in the epitaxy deposition. It is preferred to form a depression having a flat bottom portion by controlling the etching time within a predetermined time. For example, the flat bottom portion of the depression can be formed under the etching time of about 15 to 100 seconds, and the ratio of the bottom area of the flat bottom portion to the top area enclosed by the opening of the depression is substantially between 0.15 and 0.75. Consequently, the output power is improved at least 10%.

FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show another experimental results of the improvement of the external quantum efficiency and the output power by the effect of the patterned substrate according the present disclosure, which are compared with the conventional flat substrate under various driving current conditions. It is clear from the figures that the light-emitting device in accordance with the present disclosure can achieve consistent enhancement no matter in external quantum efficiency or in output power while comparing with the conventional light-emitting device with a flat substrate under the driving current of 0 to 200 mA.

It should be noted that the proposed various embodiments are not for the purpose to limit the scope of the disclosure. Any possible modifications without departing from the spirit of the disclosure may be made and should be covered by the disclosure. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A light-emitting device, comprising: a patterned substrate having an uneven surface composed of a plurality of extrusions; a light-emitting stack overlaying the patterned substrate, comprising a first conductivity type semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a second conductivity type semiconductor layer; wherein at least one of the plurality of extrusions comprises a top portion, a bottom portion, and a sidewall portion formed between the top portion and the bottom portion, and wherein a surface roughness of the top portion is larger than a surface roughness of the sidewall portion.
 2. The light-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein each of the top portion and the bottom portion further comprises a rough surface comprising a regular pattern or an irregular pattern.
 3. The light-emitting device according to claim 2, wherein at least part of the sidewall portion comprises a curve.
 4. The light-emitting device according to claim 2, wherein the sidewall portion comprises a plurality of symmetric planes.
 5. The light-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises sapphire.
 6. The light-emitting device according to claim 5, wherein the bottom portion comprises a sapphire C plane.
 7. The light-emitting device according to claim 5, wherein the sidewall portion comprises at least three symmetric sapphire R planes.
 8. The light-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the top-view pattern of the extrusion comprises circle or ellipse.
 9. The light-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the light-emitting stack comprises a III-nitride compound.
 10. The light-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein a ratio of an area of the bottom portion to an area of the top portion is substantially between 0.15 and 0.75. 